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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 7.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What would change throughout Nabokov's childhood, depending on the prevailing advice of the family's current medical consultant?
(a) How much he exercises.
(b) The temperature of the bath water.
(c) The medicines his mother uses.
(d) The temperature in his home.

2. To what is Nabokov's mother quite sensitive?
(a) Perfume.
(b) Seemingly small events.
(c) Insults.
(d) Insect bites.

3. It is unusual for aristocrats in Russian to be hanged, and as a child, what does Nabokov call the trail through the woods on the estate where a previous owner had been hanged?
(a) The "walk of the Hanged One."
(b) The "Hanging Rope."
(c) The "Path of the Hanged."
(d) The "Road to a Hanging."

4. Each day, when he awakes, how can young Vladimir tell what kind of day it is?
(a) By having the servants open the curtains.
(b) By looking out of the window.
(c) By the character of the light that slips through the shutters.
(d) By asking his mother to check the weather.

5. Who are some of the ancestors on Nabokov's paternal, Russian side?
(a) A government leader, an opera singer, and Dmitri Nabokov, the surgeon.
(b) A prominent Caholic cardinal, a physician, and Dmitri Nabokov, an inventor.
(c) An explorer, the sister of a prominent Decembrist, and Dmitri Nabokov, the author's grandfather, who served as Minister of Justice for eight years.
(d) A lawyer, scientist, and Dmitri Nabokov, a well-known actor.

Short Answer Questions

1. What properties do the Nabokovs own until the Russian revolution?

2. What is young Vladimir's main concern?

3. What does Nabokov reveal about his mind?

4. What mystifies the two boys about Mademoiselle?

5. How does Mr. Cummings influence Nabokov's scientific drawings of butterflies?

(see the answer key)

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